The present invention generally relates to in vitro methods for mimicking in vivo pathological or physiologic conditions. The methods comprise applying shear forces to a cell type or cell type plated on a surface within a cell culture container. Methods for testing drugs or compounds in such systems are also described.

The present invention provides a mouse with liver damage, having a high degree of damage against the mouse's original hepatocytes while having a uPA gene in a heterozygous form, and a method for efficiently preparing the mouse. Specifically, the method for preparing a mouse with liver damage having the uPA gene in a heterozygous form comprises the following steps of: (i) transforming mouse ES cells with a DNA fragment containing a liver-specific promoter/enhancer and cDNA that encodes a urokinase-type plasminogen activator operably linked under the control thereof; (ii) injecting the transformed mouse ES cells obtained in step (i) into a host embryo; (iii) transplanting the host embryo obtained in step (ii) via the injection of the ES cells into the uterus of a surrogate mother mouse, so as to obtain a chimeric mouse; and (iv) crossing the chimeric mice obtained in step (iii), so as to obtain a transgenic mouse in which the DNA fragment is introduced in a heterozygous form.

Microfluidic devices for modeling three-dimensional tissue structures and methods for making and using the same are described herein.

The present disclosure relates to synthetic liver organoids and methods of using such synthetic liver organoids for various applications including drug discovery and modeling human liver development. In particular, provided herein are methods of producing and using synthetic mature liver organoids comprising mature, functional cells found in the human liver.

This invention provides a non-human vertebrate exhibiting a higher human liver cell growth rate, a higher human liver cell replacement rate, and higher histological-physiological human reproducibility than existing non-human vertebrates comprising the human liver transplanted therein and a method for producing such non-human vertebrate. Specifically, the method for producing a transgenic non-human vertebrate comprising human liver cells transplanted therein comprises transplanting human liver cells in a non-human vertebrate that has impaired or lowered immune reactions against humans in the presence of human IL-6 in vivo.

The present invention generally relates to in vitro methods for mimicking in vivo pathological or physiologic conditions. The methods comprise applying shear forces to a cell type or cell type plated on a surface within a cell culture container. Methods for testing drugs or compounds in such systems are also described.

A method of culturing animal cells, preferably primary hepatocytes, including a first step of culturing the animal cells in non-adherent culture vessel, preferably a low or ultra-low attachment culture vessel, a second step of embedding the animal cells in a collagen matrix or in a gelatin matrix, and a third step of culturing the animal cells embedded in the collagen matrix or in the gelatin matrix, thereby obtaining 3D animal cell structures including proliferative animal cells, preferably spheroids including proliferative primary hepatocytes. Also, a spheroid including proliferative primary hepatocytes and the uses thereof for engineering an artificial liver model or an artificial liver organ, and for assessing in vitro the liver toxicity, genotoxicity and/or the effects of a drug or a compound.

The present invention provides a method for measuring a cellular uptake amount of a molecule, comprising (i) adding the molecule to an organ-derived cell population to perform incubation, (ii) sorting the organ-derived cell population based on the expression levels of CD31 and CD45, and (iii) after steps (i) and (ii), measuring the amount of the molecule incorporated into the cell population sorted in the step (ii), wherein the molecule is incorporated into cells via a cell surface receptor.

A method for determining at least one parameter of interest of a material comprises directing, using a radio frequency (RF) applicator, one or more RF energy pulses into a region of interest, the region of interest comprising a material having a parameter of interest and at least one reference, the material and the reference separated by at least one boundary; detecting, using an acoustic receiver, at least one multi-polar acoustic signal generated in the region of interest in response to the RF energy pulses; processing the at least one multi-polar acoustic signal to determine an electric field strength at the boundary; calculating a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of the one or more RF energy pulses; and determining the at least one parameter of interest of the material based at least on the determined electric field strength and the VSWR.

A method for developing stratified medicine for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD includes obtaining a microphysiological system (MPS) comprising a liver tissue cytoarchitecture, adipose tissue, or both. The method includes inducing metabolic dysfunction representing NAFLD in the liver or adipose tissue of the MPS. The method includes generating, based on inducing the metabolic dysfunction, transcriptomics data for the MPS. The method includes applying a drug to the MPS using a dosing regimen. The method includes monitoring changes in the transcriptomics data based on applying the drug. The method includes generating a model relating the changes in the transcriptomics data to the dosing regimen of the drug.